Hello, today I would like to discuss my favorite aggro deck in Vintage, Goblins. People seem to undervalue these little red guys to the point that I have had people quit as soon as I play a Cavern of Souls on Goblin. I am here to defend these little critters and say that this deck is far from unplayable in Vintage.
Let me go through the list and give explanations for the cards where needed.
First off the Manabase:

4 Cavern of Souls- this card is a no brainer, it allows your critters to get into play without worry of counterspells from your opponents, it also Mana fixes you for specific purposes.

4 Earwig Squad- when cast via Prowl, this card can single handedly win games alot of times. Removing win cons from the opponent making their game plan basically void

2 Gempalm Incinerator- a removal spell that is uncounterable as well as cantrips, absolutely absurd

2 Mogg War Marshal- its a goblin, that puts Goblins into play. Great against Tangle Wire and the like

Now for our toolbox of Goblins to fetch:

1 Goblin Welder- an out to Tinker Blightsteel, a powerhouse against Workshops, need I say more

1 Goblin Recruiter- allowing us to stack our deck for an absurd amount of card advantage seems worth a slot

1 Stingscourger- another out to Tinker Blightsteel, a tempo play against creature based decks, seems solid enough for an inclusion

1 Goblin Chieftain- a fifth guy to give our team haste, but this one also pumps our team

1 Goblin Sharshooter- a great way to deal with X/1's in the format

1 Krenko, Mob Boss- create an army of Goblins with a single activation normally, sign me up!

1 Wort, Boggart Auntie- a source of card advantage by returning goblins that lost their lives, or a draw engine with Incinerator

1 Grenzo, Dungeon Warden- a source of card advantage by keeping our hand full and still filling up the board

1 Warren Weirding- an out to many different monsters like Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Oath creatures, etc

The only cards left in the main deck are there to level the playing field so to speak. These cards bring the opponents deck down to our pace so that we can simply out play them.

3 Null Rod- simply put "it does nothing"

That's my current main deck, now allow me to show you my sideboard:

4 Leyline of the Void- probably the best card for the Dredge matchup, they aren't going to beat you with their cast dudes plan, so just slow them down enough to race them

4 Thorn of Amethyst- against Storm based decks, I've learned this is the best approach, play similar to Workshops by denying them Mana and making their spells cost more, except our 5/3's remove their win cons entirely

Full disclosure, it's been a long time since I sleeved up Goblins in Vintage - Food Chain being that time.

In my limited experience I found trying to board for Storm based combo to be a bit of a crap shoot. Thorn is extremely narrow and you run no where near the same density as Workshops. To me it seems your best option is either finding a more consistent way to race and/or leverage incidental cards like Earwig. Cap effects are undervalued against DPS, it speaks volumes to me that they actually run them as anti mirror tech. Earwig seems like the way to go because it supports your primary game plan while hindering theirs.

TLDR: Thorn is bad - find something else or make room for other meta cards as the combo match up is historically terrible.

Goblins should have one of the best Mentor and combo matchups at the moment since it can slam an uncounterable turn 2 Earwig Squad or Sulfur Elemental. It's not clear to me how bad the shops matchup become because of that, but you can run 4x Rakdos Charm main. Maybe a few random Dack Faydens?

Goblins should have one of the best Mentor and combo matchups at the moment since it can slam an uncounterable turn 2 Earwig Squad or Sulfur Elemental. It's not clear to me how bad the shops matchup become because of that, but you can run 4x Rakdos Charm main. Maybe a few random Dack Faydens?

Those are cards but I think you need more than either. A single cap effect isn't going to stop the majority of builds and it does nothing to stop an early Mentor.

@msg67183 We have been testing sharpshooter in hatebear builds and it is surprisingly good against mentor in general. It takes care of all the tokens and can make mentor a lot easier to kill, less likely to attack into your other creatures. It also just makes combat awesome in general.

Taking a crack at Goblins, the goal is to consistently win game 1 vs Mentor and Dredge. Oath is an awful matchup if you want get off an Earwig trigger before they get an activation, so make sure to include something to deal with that.

You can play 8 Pyrostatic Pillars in the sideboard. Plus 4 Leyline of Sanctities, 4 Mental Missteps, and 4 Mindbreak Traps if you wanted to. There is no reason why it should be a 'crap shoot'

To me Earwig seems like the only viable option. Leyline is also a possibility, the rest dilutes your clock and DPS seems well prepared for them regardless. Trying to fix a match up that isn't good at the expense of more reasonable ones is, in my experience, a huge pitfall.

Maybe you guys are right, maybe I shouldn't attempt to try out dedicated Storm hate and just bring in my four Leyline of the Void since they help against Dark Petition and Yawg Will. I could use the four slots for more constructive things like a few more Dredge hate, or Shops hate, or even more Oath hate, although the main deck is fairly stacked against it with 4 Earwig, Weirding, Stingscourger, and the like. Cages wouldn't hurt.